I started making jewelry when I was a teenager. (You know,....back when Jesus was a little boy) My uncle taught me the basics. Years later, I was particularly poor one Christmas, and made some pieces for my co-workers and girlfriends -- after Christmas, some of them asked me to make more (or matching) pieces and that's when I started "doing it for money".
Around 1988 or 89 I started selling in a few small galleries on the west coast, which gave me the nerve to search out some shops elsewhere. One of my best sales was to an actress friend of mine in LA. She bought more than a dozen pieces and gave them as Christmas gifts -- as some of you already know, that was when Sharon Stone wore won of my necklaces to an Awards show. I just about peed my pants when I saw her on TV!

KB -- Miss you too.
I talk to Ulrich a few times a week and to Burkhart a few times a month. I can't just go cold turkey!

Do we have a nominee for August WTF'er of the Month yet?

Big Al

Catlady:
If you think of it next time you're on the phone with Ulrich, please let him know that I send my greetings, and that I think of him frequently.

You can also tell him the upright he saw in my living room once upon a time has been replaced by a 220 as of a couple years ago (oh, and it's a different living room, in case the spatial math doesn't seem to add up).

Hope you're well too - would love to catch up sometime.